One of the main purposes of a business website is to convert website traffic into revenue. This means creating calls to action (CTAs), building sales funnels and curating interesting, valuable content for those browsing your website. But there are multiple ways to optimize your website for conversions and usher potential consumers to your sales page. To help you do this, nine members of Young Entrepreneur Council provide their top-recommended "tricks of the trade" to boost website conversions below. 1. Offer Valuable Visual Elements Have fewer products, less text and more value. Don't overwhelm your shopper. Instead, offer more visual elements on your website that emphasize the value of the product or service rather than flashy images of the product itself. Also, I suggest creating affiliate sales links that can be sent to content creators and bloggers. This way, your website can reach a wider audience and you can support important content creators in the process. - Amine Rahal, IronMonk Solutions 2. Implement Proper Tracking And Pixel Codes The No. 1 tip I can give on optimizing for conversions and turning your website traffic into revenue would be to make sure you have the proper tracking and pixel codes on your website. This element is crucial for paid traffic. It allows the algorithms to show your advertisements to the right people who are more likely to convert after getting the data. Along with the proper tracking, you want to make sure you are extremely direct with your messaging. Don’t just try to get anyone to your website. You need to work on your messaging to get the right people to look at the information you have to offer. Even if it’s a smaller number of people going to your website, you want to get people who will be interested instead of just looking at vanity numbers like website traffic. - Bryan Driscoll, Motivated Leads 3. Curate Interactive Content Switching from static to interactive content will yield a consistent, and often staggering, increase in conversion rates. This is because more content will be viewed, making the user more aware of your brand and product. At the same time, users are more likely to provide more information, which is key to converting them. From quizzes to surveys, interactive content gets people more engaged, which, in turn, leads to higher revenue. - Vlad Gozman, involve.me 4. Remove Purchasing Obstacles The fewer clicks to buy, the better. Give people multiple payment options so they can choose the one they’re most comfortable with. Make it easy to get answers to questions quickly; it should take a single click to get answers to frequently asked questions with information about shipping, returns and so on. Add live online chat to your site. It’s not only helpful today, but most consumers expect it. It’s worth the investment. Every product page should offer as much information as possible so consumers are convinced to buy immediately. What are the obstacles consumers often cite that keep them from buying? Make sure those obstacles are removed from your website. This could require adding information, features or technology to remove all barriers. - Jonathan Prichard, MattressInsider.com 5. Provide Social Proof Social proof is an extremely powerful way to optimize your site for conversions. In marketing, social proof is anything that shows visitors that your site is trusted and respected by consumers and other well-known businesses. There are plenty of ways to get more social proof on your site. One of the easiest ways is to add the option to leave reviews on your product pages. When new visitors see reviews from existing customers, they are more likely to engage with your brand. Other social proof possibilities include live sales notifications, trust badges and user-generated content on social media. - John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC 6. Offer Something For Free Give them something for free! When shopping for services or goods, there are an unlimited number of options for customers. They are all looking for the best product or service for the best price point. To help showcase your value, give them a taste of what you have to offer. A free digital download or a limited-time trial can leave them wanting more. - Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR 7. Create Clear Copy Be concise and avoid confusing your customers. Copy should tell a story that engages your customers and motivates them to buy, whether that is a service or a product. Sales funnels are traditionally used for this purpose. However, that doesn't work with today's savvy buyers. Customers have all the information they need at their fingertips to make a judgment about your product or service. Your reputation or the quality of your product or customer service will sell the product. That is the story. Engagingly telling that story with the help of influencers and testimonials will help get your products and services noticed. Be authentically you. - Jared Weitz, United Capital Source Inc. 8. Show Your Product In Action Show the product in action however you can. Remember, your customers can't pick it up and hold it, so give them any media or explanations they need to understand it. Nobody buys something they don't understand, so focus on clarity, clean design, testimonials and showing the product in action one way or another. If you need examples, simply peruse the top-ranking e-commerce listings on any major online platform. You're likely to see no background photos, well-lit videos and a couple of quotes from happy customers all readily visible to shoppers. A product listing is an evolving medium. It can adapt to the needs and expectations of consumers over time, and it should. Test and retest until you get the result you want. Steal ideas from the best in the game! It's a great way to learn and grow. - Tyler Bray, TK Trailer Parts 9. Understand Your User Experience To make money from your website and online content, it's important to focus on creating a positive user experience (UX). Failing to optimize your website will lead to fewer conversions and less engagement because people don't want to deal with annoying websites and long loading times. Things like your navigation menu, site speed, layout and more all affect how users interact with your website and whether or not they'll continue to engage. Don't underestimate the impact that your website design has on users and their ability to stick around. The more you optimize it for your audience, the likelier they'll be to return. - Stephanie Wells, Formidable Forms Source: https://www.forbes.com/
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When marketing your business, you need an innovative approach to be successful. Whether you choose to focus on social media, email or public relations as your primary marketing strategy, you may find yourself struggling to find creative and effective marketing campaigns. Here are four nonconventional yet effective ways to spruce up your marketing strategy. Influencer Marketing More entrepreneurs are focusing on this marketing strategy because of the potentially lucrative success influencer marketing offers for brands. Before messaging any influencers, entrepreneurs should plan their strategy and establish clear terms and timelines. TikTok, Instagram and even Twitter are great platforms to work with influencers on. More prominent influencers may not be willing to work with smaller brands, so entrepreneurs should first consider focusing on smaller influencers, a.k.a. micro-influencers, to raise brand awareness. Your brand’s first impression is essential for successfully securing a partnership with an influencer. Many experts recommend finding a personal connection to influencers you reach out to instead of using a generic introduction. These personal touches can be the difference between influencers agreeing to work together or not. Consequently, advertisers can focus on more well-known influencers once they successfully connect with several smaller influencers or celebrities. When reaching out to these high-profile potential clients, lead with how you can help them, not just how they can help you. Market Your Skills To Reach A Niche Market In my experience, referrals are one of the best sources of quality leads. However, solid referrals require strategy. Knowing your niche market through and through, solving their problem and intently listening to customer feedback ensures that you have a steady stream of excited fans and not just transactional customers. Enthusiastic fans will always tell their friends about you! It is the best compliment in the world to know someone liked your services enough to put their reputation on the line to tell others about you. Whether you get a referral from a customer to one of their contacts in the same field or a referral from a customer to one of their friends, referrals are some of the most valuable leads you can get. Advertise Where People Already Look Mobile billboard advertising is a marketing strategy in which entrepreneurs place an advertisement on a mode of transportation and drive it around a specific location to raise brand awareness. Cars, buses and semi-trucks are some of the most common methods of transportation used during this type of advertising. Vinyl wrappings, car signs, car toppers and digital screens attached to cars, trailers and semi-trucks are the most popular mediums advertisers use. Innovators in this industry include AdLoad Technologies, which puts state-of-the-art LED displays linked to programming software on the back of semi-trucks, and Rolling Adz, which offers mobile billboard fleets for local, multi-state and nationwide campaigns. Millions of vehicles hit the road every day in the United States, and drivers frequently see these mobile marketing vehicles on the road. So regardless of whether potential consumers are actively seeking out your business, they will come into contact with another vehicle and see your ad. Another excellent example of innovation in marketing where people already look is FreeWater, which allows advertisers to place ads on sustainable water containers and then distribute them for free to potential customers at festivals, concerts and events. Talk about intelligent use of ad space! Highlight Why Your Company Is Different Conducting competitor research and client surveys can help entrepreneurs understand the specific needs of their community and client preferences. Consumers have a myriad of options to choose from when seeking a particular service or product, and the sheer number of options available can be overwhelming. Therefore, highlighting exactly why your business is different from the others can increase your bottom line. Marketing your business can seem daunting and complicated. Looking for unique but effective ways to market your company can help grow your business beyond the limits of other traditional marketing strategies. Source: https://www.forbes.com/ Image credit: Getty
A lot of small business owners don’t like conflict, so they avoid it. There can be problems inside your company between employees or controversial policies with your staff or customers. But more progress can be made in your company if you “choose sides”, and not be neutral. On The Small Business Radio Show this week, I talked with the authors of “The Neutrality Trap: Disrupting and Connecting for Social Change” about how avoiding conflict doesn’t benefit small business. Bernard Mayer, PhD is an internationally recognized leader in the field of conflict intervention. He is Professor Emeritus of Conflict Studies at Creighton University and was a founding partner of CDR Associates, a pioneering conflict intervention and training firm. Jacqueline N. Font-Guzmán, PhD, JD, MHA is a Fulbright scholar with vast experience in conflict, healthcare, academia, and the legal system. She is an experienced lawyer, mediator, and facilitator. She serves as the inaugural Executive Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Eastern Mennonite University and Professor in their Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. According to Bernie, “The Neutrality Trap” is that whenever there is a conflict, many people hide behind the statement that they are “neutral” and avoid dealing with real issues that need to be addressed. Jackie adds that “by not taking a position on an issue, you are still taking a stance. That position helps sustain the conflict that is already in place… You need to take a side.” Bernie says that in any organization, “constructive conflict” is essential for change. In any small business, conflict does advance change according to Jackie; “Lack of conflict will lead to stagnation in your company. Leaders need to understand that conversations about these issues are happening anyways (inside your company), so they should be engaged with instead of avoided. Source:smallbiztrends.com Image: Bernie Mayer
Continuous innovation is important for the growth of any business. All innovation ultimately begins as a simple idea, but bringing that idea to life requires thoughtful and effective experimentation to reach a larger goal. As successful business leaders, the members of Young Entrepreneur Council understand that testing must be done in a careful, controlled environment with clear metrics and benchmarks. Below, eight of them each share one step you should always take when testing out a new idea and explain how that step helps achieve the best end results. 1. Establish Constraints Establish the constraints with which you'll evaluate the new idea. Be thoughtful about this and stick with it, even if your experiment doesn't go the way you expected. If you say that you're going to test an idea, software, process, etc. for three weeks, make sure you really mean it! If you've planned well enough, what you may find is that your idea will be better served by conducting multiple smaller experiments. This gives you the opportunity to evaluate more effectively between shorter milestones and innovate more quickly. - Christopher Tarantino, Epicenter Innovation 2. Gather Feedback Whenever I’m trying to innovate or carve a new niche out for my business within my industry, an important first step is to always gather feedback from everyone on the team. Sometimes this means a minimally viable prototype of a product needs to be built, and sometimes it could just mean emailing a simple survey to the team about a new workflow process improvement. Gathering feedback internally from all employees regardless of title is a crucial piece of this process because it can shed light on potentially negative outcomes that may be overlooked by some team members. The very essence of true innovation is uncertainty—that’s what makes the results so special—so gaining as much intel as possible before investing too much into full production is crucial for success. - Richard Fong, Bliss Drive 3. Split Test Split testing is an excellent way to test your ideas without a commitment. Essentially, this type of testing can be used on virtually every aspect of your marketing strategy and user interface. It involves changing one or more elements of your campaign or design and comparing it to the original version. The goal is to see if your experiment gets more traffic, engagement or clicks when compared to the live version on your site. As you experiment with calls to action, color schemes and offers, you'll slowly fine-tune your business based on how people respond to your tests. - John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC 4. Set Budgets We typically take a percentage of the budget to test. That way, all of our eggs aren't in one basket and we're able to judge success without messing up what is working. It allows us to get client-side approval as well. Then we evaluate the results and decide if we want to double down on the strategy, test a variation or determine it as nonviable for the time being. A separate budget for testing, research and development is key in innovating thoughtfully and judging the results. We also typically give specific time periods for such tests. - Ethan Kramer, EK Creative 5. Use UX Research Frameworks Undoubtedly, businesses thrive and survive off their ability to innovate, move the needle and not become complacent or comfortable with the status quo. That said, experimentation needs to be done diligently, thoughtfully and always with a strategic lens. When it comes to testing new ideas and introducing new service lines or product features, it’s incredibly important to canvass plenty of potential users directly to gain candid and unfiltered insights and perspectives. Additionally, consider using some user experience (UX) research framework to pose thoughtful questions and gather this objective feedback. - Rong Zhang, Hirect 6. Define The Resources Needed It's important to understand the potential resources and timelines needed to bring an idea to fruition. Oftentimes, management teams can overlook shortages in development time or shortages in a number of new processes that will be absolutely necessary for a project to have a chance at success. By taking the time to spell out what resources will be needed, even for an MVP, the likelihood of success with the project can increase dramatically. In addition, management teams will be more likely to prioritize projects that are most synergistic with their existing resources. - Fehzan Ali, Adscend Media LLC 7. Consider Scalability The whole point of coming up with these great ideas is to have them be scalable. That means you can see them through to fruition and you can easily expand to new markets, products and services. The idea doesn't need to be one-size-fits-all. The point of an innovative idea is that you can make it work in a lot of different ways, and that's actually a good thing because then it's easier to figure out how to turn it into a sustainable business. If a lot of your time and money is going toward something that's going to be a flop, then you're just wasting your time and resources. Moreover, you need to find the ideas that fall into the sweet spot where they're relatively easy to execute and it feels like they're going to be successful. - Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day 8. Wait We wait instead of jumping on the shiny new thing. This is our single most important vetting tool, because if an idea is just as exciting and seemingly valid a few weeks or especially a few months down the line, then we know we are onto something that warrants further attention. - James Simpson, GoldFire Studios Source: https://www.forbes.com/
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